HOCKEY - Springfield out to complete giant-killing double for title

Springfield are out to complete their giant-killing double this weekend with a win over arch-rivals Maungakaramea in the men's premier final tomorrow evening.
Written off by many as a chance for the title this year, Springfield proved their worth last weekend by hammering Mangapai 6-2 to earn a shot at the defending champions, who have already qualified as the top team in the round-robin competition.
But Springfield know it will be a completely different proposition against Maungakaramea.
"If we play to our potential we can definitely win, but we aren't fooling ourselves, it's going to be hard, they're a better team than Mangapai," top goal-scorer Dion Watts said.
Maungakaramea's John Child said the whole team turned up to watch the semifinal and were surprised to see Mangapai so easily dispatched.
"It was a big surprise, no doubt about it. Springfield played pretty well to be honest and it opened our eyes a bit," he said.
"Anything can happen in finals hockey, but the boys are all fired up with one match to go and it's just a matter of doing our own thing during the game and hopefully everything works out our way."
Child said that, despite winning all of their encounters this year, Springfield pushed them hard in a couple of memorable games.
Watts agreed that, if they click as a team tomorrow, then another upset is on the cards.
"We've got close to them in a couple of recent games when we were beating them until the final 10 minutes, so we can definitely do it and if we can play like that again on Saturday, it'll be an interesting game," Watts said.
Maungakaramea are also the favourites in the final of the premier women's final, which precedes the men's final, at 5pm.
Maunagkaramea were also robbed of their expected opponents for the final, when Whangarei Girls' High School upset Old Girls in a penalty shoot-out last Saturday.
It remains to be seen if Girls' High can repeat the performance against Maungakaramea, but they will need more stellar performances from their senior players if they wish to record another upset.
Maungakaramea were also hot favourites to win in 2006 when Girls' High upset them to win their first ever title and although both sides have changed a lot since then, neither team will have forgotten.